Once one of the hottest free agents on the market, Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko will now be a healthy scratch yet again as Vancouver prepares to take on Nashville.
The Russian winger will take in Tuesday’s action in street clothes as head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed that he wouldn’t be in the lineup against the Preds. “He’s got to get his game a little bit more sharpened up,” Tocchet told reporters last month following a two game healthy scratch stint. “It’s not about last year, it’s about this year for us. And he’s a guy that needed a reset.”
With 17pts (6G, 11A) through 29 games this season, Kuzmenko is well behind his 2022-23 pace where he piled up 74pts (39G, 35A) across 81 contests. The former KHL star signed a lucrative 2 year, $11M contract extension with the Canucks following his NHL debut last year. However thus far Kuzmenko hasn’t fared as well under Tocchet’s system out west.
After scoring in back to back games against the Lightning and the Panthers, the 27 year old reportedly drew the ire of the coaching staff for a perceived lack of effort on the forecheck and back check in the two subsequent games since. In his place, veteran Phil Di Giuseppe draws back into the lineup.
The 30 year old journeyman winger has 8pts (3G, 5A) across 29 appearances for the 21-9-2 Canucks so far this season. Vancouver and Nashville collide for an 8pm ET showdown at Bridgestone Arena Tuesday.
Photo: Michael Rivera. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.